The present invention pertains to simulated area weapons effects systems and more particularly to information display for such systems.
Area Weapons Effects Simulation (AWES) systems are used in military force-on-force exercises to simulate the effects of indirect fire weapons such as artillery, mortars, mines, and chemical weapons. Examples of such systems are the Motorola Combined Arms Training-Integrated Evaluation System (CATIES) and the Simulated Area Weapons Effects-Radio Frequency (SAWE-RF) system by Loral. These systems use a variety of audio/visual cues to indicate to exercise participants in and near the area of effects that they are under fire. The most common cues in use are pyrotechnics, buzzers, injection of sound on the vehicle intercom, and flashing lights. These cues, while effective in notifying the participants that they are being subjected to indirect fire, are inadequate when training soldiers how to survive and to use indirect fire. Specifically, current cueing schemes are deficient when:
First, if no instrumented players with cueing devices are in or close to the area of indirect fire, soldiers outside the area of effects receive absolutely no indication of the fire and are likely to drive into fire. In reality, they would probably have seen the fire and avoided it. PA1 Second, players near the area of effects receive an indication that indirect fire is being employed but are not killed. In this case they must react either by taking cover or moving out of the area. Since no direction information is supplied by any existing cue, the soldiers are likely to drive into the are where the indirect fire is being employed when they are trying to escape it. PA1 Third, Forward Observation Officers (FOO's) cannot redirect mortar or artillery fire when the fire does not land on vehicles instrumented with audio/visual cues that are visible from a distance. PA1 Fourth, pyrotechnic cues are generally the loudest, most visible type of cue and the most realistic. Safety limitations restrict the size and noise of the cue so the effects are much smaller and quieter than real artillery and mortars. In a normal training environment, especially in a desert environment such as the US Army's National Training Center, the dust and noise from the vehicles themselves frequently conceal the signature of the cues.
Typical audio/visual cueing devices used in force-on-force training systems to not provide sufficient information to soldiers and vehicles for proper training in surviving and using indirect fire such as artillery and mortars. In order to increase training realism and teach training forces how to survive and use indirect fire, participants in training exercises need data that is available in a real battle, specifically where the indirect fire is occurring. This is more feedback than any of the existing audio/visual cues are capable of.